PILEUS
- cap l-5 cm wide
- campanulate-conical form to campanulate-convex
- but also with or without papillae-like cuffs apex acuminate to rounded (=appendiculate margin?)
- pileus often bare and dull
- sometimes with contrasting mesh pattern or network raised or wrinkled, with dry conditions
- At first scurfy
- not hygrophanous or barely so
- color drab gray to charcoal gray, drab, olive-gray, flesh tones to pink or flesh-brownish
- completely plain or with colored crest, but also from the beginning almost colorless (albinoid) or by bleached out by sunlight
- margin with more or less clearly pronounced, brighter veil remnants in the form of a shaped denticles (scales) around the perimeter, this curtain around the brim often disappearing with age but is visible in young specimens with a closed rim.ODOR/TASTE
- not describedLAMELLAE
- Gills blackish-gray
- pied, mottled
- with white edge
- attachedSTIPE
- Stalk about 30-120 × 2-4 mm
- narrow
- central, frail, almost always straight
- colored like the cap
- brownish gray, finely powdered or frosted near apex
- upper part often finely lined
- completely without veil remnants
- white basal myceliumMICROSCOPICFEATURESBASIDIA
- Four-spored
- about 25- 30 × 12- 15 micronsPILEIPELLIS
- not describedSPORES
- Spores (13) 15-18 (19) x (9.5) 10-12 (13) x (7) 8 – 9.5 (11) microns
- smooth, opaque
- In KOH always very dark reddish brown, flattened
- in face-view typically rectangular, with almost parallel lateral lines,
- Germ pore brought forward noticeablySULPHIDIA
- absentCHEILOCYSTIDIA
- colorless, often very slender but not pointed
- base slightly expanded or bulbous
- about 30-60 microns long

Diagnostic Description:

- The external form is very variable in this species, but easily recognized by the draped brim, the almost hygrophanous cap and very dark spores that are angular in face-view.
- Forms with barely recognizable veil remnants are always identifiable by the size and color of the spores.
- The lack of Sulphidia and the often slender, bent form of the Cheilocystidia are other good micro-features.
- Differs from the var parvisporus by substantially larger spores. The non-European species P. rubricaulis has Sulphidia on the lamellar surfaces and has a hygrophanous cap.
- With P. acuminatus, the veil remnants are missing, and microscopically, there are even slimmer, straighter, more pointed Cheilocystidia. Often the spores of P. acuminatus are lighter and more transparent and less angular. The cap color of acuminatus is variable, dependent on the moisture condition, zonation may be apparent.